Huntsville gazette., 1887-11-26
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

Amati has just been sold for $3, ,50t
at Buda Pesth.
1t cost England five thousand dol
lars to purchase garter for the Crow
Prince of Austria.
"A brass key, used as sinker by ;
Yarmouth, N. S., citizen, was carried
away by fish, and several days late
was found in lobster pot one milt
away.
Paper containing ligneous sub
stances such as straw, wood and jute
is rapidly discolored by electric lights
The yellowing is due to the phenome
non Of oxidation.
Powdered glass is largely taking
the place Of sand in the manufacture ot
sandpaper. It is readily pulverized By
heating it red-hot and throwing it into
water, the finishing being done in al
iron mOrtar.
A japanese soldier is taught to
run as well as advance. BY and BY,
when the-Japs become fully up in eau
casian ways, they will only need to be
taught to advance, for the running will
suggest itself.
A numbing action, similar to that oi
cocaine, has been found to result from
the external application to the body OF
the well-known Intoxicating drink CT
the South Sea islanders called kava.-
ArbQnsaW IrdUe5er.
Signal ropes for mines are on the
continent made of ditta metal, for the
reason that this metal resists corra-
sion. 1t is said to have a tensile
strength Of more than fifty ton per
square inch Of section.
"A Minneapolis woman was fined
ten dollars for breaking her umbrella
over the head Of street masher, but
the public sent her over two hundred
dollars to pay the fine with. She ought
to distribute the money among one
hundred and ninety other women and
let them clean out the pests. Detroit
Tree Press.
A Cliff street man has a cocker
spaniel that viii not eat breakfast until
his face is washed. The dog spent his
puppyhood in a family with children
and took his turn with them at the
morning wash. If his toilet is neglect
ed he doesn't weep, but sits right down
and howls, and there is no peace until
his eyes are clear and his head cosnbed.
-NoruOjch Bulletin.
"A farmer in the south of England
recently fell down a precipice distance
of over sixty feet and was dashed in
pieces by coming in contact with the
rocks. His collie dog went to the body
and barked till he had called the neigh
bors. He piloted them down to the
place where his master lay, followed
the body home and kept watch over it
till it was placed in the grave.
"A valuable practical fact receives
additional support from experiments
on the influence Of sunshine upon the
vitality Of the germs Of microbes as
by M. E. Duclaux. He cul-
tivated Tyrothrix scaber in milk and
Liebig's extract, and found that the
light of the sun is fifty times more de-
structive than its heat, thus fully con-
tirming its hygienic properties.-N. I.
Hcr0Id
An English writer observes that
the sense of hearing in some birds
seems as wonderful and discriminating
as that of smell in dogs. A thrush
has been seen to listen for worms, and
very evidently to hear them, too,
though within two yards of noisy
lawn-mower; while robins appear to
be able to distinguish the voices Of
their own offspring and parents from q
Of others, and at a great dis
tance. 1t is suggested that such cases
the ''eXclusiye direction Of the
attention Of \ sense" rather than mere
&eenness. s.-Arkansal0 Traveller.
Many interesting illustrations Of
popular ignorance relating to geo
matters were lately given by
Sir Charles Warren, at meet
inc Of the British Association for the
Advancement Of Science. He men
TONED the case Of an educated sur
yeyor who could not rid himself of the
notion that Paris was further north
than London. and said that he had
found that out of thirty well-instlucted
men, between eighteen and twenty
years OF age, about eighteen of them
were under the impression that while
the sun rises in the East the stars rise
in the West.-N 7. Ledger.
The development of the telegraph
system in this country is one Of the
maryels Of modern civilization. From
\ mere experiment on 4 single wire be-
tween Washington and Baltimore i'll
1914, within the memory Of many per-
sons yet living, it has grown to be one
Of the governing forces in our philoso-
ply Of material and social progress.
The Western Union Company alone
now has $4,000 miles Of wires, and the
messages which it handled during the
year ended June 3O 1887, reached
total Of AZ, 404,530 The figures indi-
cate at a glance the practical value Of